DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201500902

Editorial

Sustainable Chemistry at Sungkyunkwan University Nam-Gyu Park*[a]

There are growing concerns on global warming due to the

continuous accumulation of carbon dioxide emitted by consumption of fossil fuels. Climate change is a consequence of global warming, and will in the end be a menace to our daily lives. There is no doubt that fossil fuels have significantly contributed to industrialization. However, global warming has been unavoidably accelerated at the same time. Low- or nocarbon growth is indispensable in order to keep continuing the industrial development with a clean environment. In order to reduce greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, fossil fuel energy should be replaced by zero-carbon-emission renewable energies such as solar, wind, and biomass energies. Energy storage technology is equally important for sustainability of renewable energy. For example, hybridization of solar energy and rechargeable battery provide electricity day and night. Sustainable chemistry is the key to develop efficient renewable energies, which will be more and more important in order to cease global warming. Scientists at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) has been working on sustainable chemistry for photovoltaic solar cells to generate low-cost electricity, lithium batteries and capacitors to store electricity, piezoelectric nanogenerators, thermoelectric devices, hydrogen generation, and fuel cells.

Nam-Gyu Park received his BS in chemical education and MS and PhD degrees in chemistry from Seoul National University (SNU) in 1988, 1992, and 1995, respectively. He was at ICMCB-CNRS, France, from 1996 to 1997 and at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), USA, from 1997 to 1999 as a post-doctoral researcher. He worked for the Electronics and Telecommunications Research In-

a private university. As Korea modernized and underwent social and economic reforms, the University grew rapidly to address the diverse demands of the advancing country. The rich culture, which exudes from a long tradition, is surely a unique and valuable asset of the University. The University is now operated at two campuses: the Humanities and Social Sciences Campus in Seoul and the Natural Sciences Campus in Suwon. Based on a highly successful partnership with Samsung, which has generously funded several core initiatives, the University has been rapidly developing and prospering since 1996.

Sungkyunkwan is synonymous with both traditional and inno- These days, more and more exciting new results are pubvational education. The literal meaning of the University’s name is ‘an institution for building a harmonious society’ of perfected human beings. Sungkyunkwan was founded over 610 years ago by royal decree to promote the scholarship in Confucianism. After World War II, with the emergence of the Republic of Korea, Sungkyunkwan underwent a renaissance as [a] Prof. N.-G. Park School of Chemical Engineering and Department of Energy Science Sungkyunkwan University Suwon 440-746 (Korea) E-mail: [email protected] This publication is part of a Special Issue on “Sustainable Chemistry at Sungkyunkwan University”. To view the complete issue, visit: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cssc.v8.14/issuetoc.

ChemSusChem 2015, 8, 2271

lished in sustainable chemistry related area. ChemSusChem is an interdisciplinary journal, publishing work of international significance on all aspects of sustainable chemistry, including energy storage and conversion, catalysis, fuel cell, renewable resources, nanoparticle and nanostructure, and polymers. This special issue aims to cover the most recent progress in sustainable chemistry at SKKU, including perovskite and inorganic thin-film solar cells, lithium ion batteries hybridized with electrochemical capacitors, triboelectric nanogenerators, chemical conversions using catalysis, polymer nanostructures, water splitting for hydrogen generation, and fuel cells. Keywords: energy storage · fuel cells · hydrogen · solar cells · sustainable chemistry

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Sustainable Chemistry at Sungkyunkwan University.

Special Issue: Sustainable Chemistry at Sungkyunkwan University. Sustainable chemistry is key to the development of efficient renewable energies, whic...
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